Complex waveshapes are often used in electronic equipment such as, for example, automatic test equipment for testing the parameters of a unit under test. In these circumstances, it is desirable to extract as much information as possible from the complex waveshape, particularly with respect to a reference signal. For example, it is desirable to determine both the in-phase and quadrature component of the complex waveshape and to determine the magnitude and phase of its fundamental component with respect to the reference signal. Additionally, complex waveshapes and reference signals having relatively wide magnitude, frequency and phase angle ranges must be accomodated with a relatively high resolution and accuracy.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide apparatus and method using digitizing techniques for enabling a graphical Fourier analysis whereby the desired information is extracted from the complex waveshape.